There is a dynamic, an interaction between two distinct phenomena. One in which we call materialism and the other spiritualism. These phenomena are looking for a balance, or rather a point in which both interact to form the human experience.

Yet, we, as humans, tend to favor one over the other. Either we are too materialistic to the point we miss the ability for compassion, or empathy, or we are too empathetic to the point we neglect ourselves.

Either extreme is not advantageous. We are both autonomous and social beings. One should not be pitted against the other but work together to complete the other. Selfishness and altruism are virtues but not in and of themselves. As they stand alone, they are made vices. To say a person is entirely or mostly selfish is in itself a denouncement as a one-dimensional being absent of any true progression; to say a person is entirely or mostly altruistic in that he, or she, neglects oneself is to say he, or she, belittles oneself, to the point of humiliation; in other words, a person entirely spent is of no use to anyone, including himself, or herself. Neglect of social responsibility is not a virtue and neither is neglect of oneself.